


To Fall Down At Your Door

by sparkinside (boomersoonerash)



Category: Hanson (Band), The Walking Dead (TV), World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - The Walking Dead Fusion, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Amnesia, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Babies, Condoms, Confusion, Conversations, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Daryl In Love, Emotional Infidelity, F/M, Kissing, Married Couple, Memory Loss, Older Man/Younger Woman, Shout It Out Era, Teasing, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-31
Updated: 2016-03-31
Packaged: 2018-05-30 07:55:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6415309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boomersoonerash/pseuds/sparkinside
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Avery tries to settle into her life and family again after being away for some time but that's kind of hard when she has memory loss from the gunshot wound that took her away in the first place.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Fall Down At Your Door

**Author's Note:**

> This is basically a what-if future verse for my Panic In The Streets Story. Nothing will play out like it did here but this was stuck in my head and I had to write it down and share it. Everything that happens is set during season six so it would be during story 6 of my series which I haven't even got too writing wise.
> 
> Again I wanted to share this before Camp Nano tomorrow.

Avery sighed softly to herself as she folded the laundry that she had done last night. She hadn't had the chance to do it right when it got done, mainly because she and Daryl had went to have dinner with Kate and Zac and then when they had came back she had to give Hunter his nighttime feeding and then she had put him to bed. Singing and rocking him until he had fallen asleep and by then she herself had been exhausted.

Too exhausted to stay up and fold laundry so she had went on to bed, vowing to do laundry today and luckily for her Daryl was out on a run with Rick and Zac and Beth had offered to watch Hunter and Avery agreed knowing it would be good to have some time away from the baby boy who was four months old. She hadn't really parted from him since she had been brought to this community even if she really still couldn't remember he was hers thanks to the gunshot wound she suffered.

The one that had taken her away from her family for almost two months because they had thought she was dead and she probably should have been dead. Would be dead if Dean and Seth hadn't found her after she had fought her way out of her grave and then passed out.

It was a gunshot wound that had taken her two weeks to recover from and then she had started on her journey to Virginia with Dean and Seth because by that time she had remembered Noah mentioning Virginia though at the time all she had saw was his face in her memories. She hadn't known his name and his name still didn't really add up.

Hell no one was still that major in her life yet, not the blood family she had left. Not the baby boy she had carried for months and birthed and not even the man who said he was her partner. Especially him. He was the biggest blank to her even if before she knew who she was she had taken his last name as her first name, still even preferred it to people calling her Avery because Avery just didn't fit anymore it seemed. Not when she couldn't connect or remember half the things that Avery Hanson could and would have remembered.

No to her Avery was dead and well she was just a nobody..maybe. She wasn't even sure she could be Dixon anymore because technically Dixon hadn't even existed.

Coming out of her thoughts though when she heard a tiny thud, Avery looked down at the floor when she saw a box laying there and when she reached down to pick it up, she paused slightly as she examined it, realizing it was a condom box. A condom box that had fallen out of the pants of the man she was supposedly committed too. Had been for awhile now according to everyone who had tried to fill her in on her past.

Blushing as she looked at it, she saw the date of expiration on them and she knew if the calendar that Jessica kept in the main house was right then the condoms were due to expire in a few days. Though she couldn't think of why Daryl had them other than he wanted to have sex with her.

At that thought though Avery again blushed because well she wasn't sure sex was something she was ready for. Not with Daryl anyway because how could she have sex with someone she didn't quite remember? Maybe if he was Dean she could see herself with him, after all it had been Dean she had been getting close to while she healed and got better and their trip to Virginia even had made them closer.

The day that Daryl had found them in the woods after losing his bike and crossbow, Avery had been so close to agreeing to settle down with Dean in some house instead of going off with Seth to join a new group of people he had found, a group that were a bunch of bikes she had never even heard of. But she hadn't agreed because something had stopped her, even if she did feel something for Dean and maybe that had been subconsciously her knowing somewhere that she had a partner, she had a family.

But now even seeing them she still had feelings for Dean and she knew that Daryl knew. She may have had a shit memory right now but she could still see the way Daryl got a bit huffy every time these past two months when she had asked to see Dean or asked if she could invite him over for dinner.

Shaking her head Avery stood from the bed, deciding she'd finish folding clothes later tonight before she fixed dinner. Right now she needed to talk and well she knew one person she wanted to go to. A person who during her two months here she had sort of gotten close too despite her not being able to remember them.

Leaving her bedroom she quickly went downstairs and exited the house, walking two houses down from hers where she climbed the steps of the porch, though before she could knock on the door, the door swung open and she was greeted with the smiling face of Kate, who was holding what looked like a fresh pan of cookies.

"Cookies?" Kate asked a little too happily as she stared at Avery, a woman who she had once thought dead along with everyone else and yet two months ago they had all been proven wrong when Daryl came back from being out with Abe and Sasha and he had, had Avery and some man with him. A man who they later found out had found Avery unconscious after she had dug herself out of the shallow grave they had buried her in.

Shaking her head, Avery made a face, "No thanks," she said as Kate moved aside to let her in. "I didn't come to eat but I did come to talk, if you'll listen."

Kate paused at Avery's words and with her free hand she shut the door once Avery was inside, "Of course I'll listen," she nodded her head knowing that right now her own life may have been teetering thanks to Morgan getting under her skin but if Avery wanted to talk she'd listen.

Kate was half sure Avery hadn't really talked to anyone much outside of Dean since arriving here. Yeah she'd been present for events but when she wanted or needed to vent Kate suspected she had ran to the man who saved her. Ran to the man who she had grown close to and felt indebted too. She really couldn't blame Avery either because when she had been split from the group after the farm she had grown attached to Lucy so in ways she understood Avery even if in her case all her memories had remained in tact.

"What did you want to talk about?" Kate finally questioned as she turned to head into the kitchen to put the cookies in a container. She'd just distribute them later because lord knew she had too many for her and Zac thanks to the stress baking she had done every day this week.

"Daryl," Avery offered as she followed behind Kate and when they were in the kitchen Avery chose to sit down in a stool as Kate began to put the cookies into a container. "I found a box of condoms in his pants when I was folding clothes," she admitted as she laid the box of condoms on the counter in front of her.

"And?" Kate asked not understanding why Avery would need to talk about those. Surely she hadn't forgotten what condoms were for.

Avery blushed as she looked down, "And they're going to expire soon and I don't really understand why Daryl has them. It's not like we're anywhere near ready to even think of having sex again."

"Can I give you my honest opinion Avery?" Kate asked nicely as she looked up from the container and at the woman who used to be her sister-in-law. Probably still was since she and Zac could never legally divorce now.

"I have a feeling you're going too anyway," Avery laughed softly to lighten her own mood. "Anyway maybe that's why I chose you. You give off the feeling that you'd tell it like it is."

Kate couldn't help but laugh at the last statement, "I get that from your brother but it's probably best he doesn't hear about your sex life with Daryl..ever," she muttered as she shook her head. "But Avery maybe you and Daryl would be closer to being ready for sex if you didn't always run to Dean and shut your husband down."

Avery looked down at Kate's words and she felt her cheeks getting hot. She knew she probably should have expected Kate to call her out with what she said about an honest opinion but it was still blunt and Kate calling Daryl her husband had shook her because she had never thought of it that way. Everyone had just referred to them as a couple or as Dean had put it nicely their first week here in this place, her life long partner so maybe Avery had been using partner to make herself feel better.

"Trust me Avery," Kate continued in Avery's silence. "You keep doing what you're doing and you're going to lose whatever it is you and Daryl had and if your memories return then you're going to be shit out of luck."

"But that's an if," Avery defended knowing Denise had said the possibility was slim that her memories would return at all. Though she reckoned those around her maybe still had hope, the ones who had knew her before. "You do seem to speak from experience though. I mean on how I'd be if I lost whatever it was Daryl and I had before I got shot, before the woman he loved got erased."

Kate nodded her head in acknowledgement of Avery's words, "I sort of do," she confirmed. "It was around the start of things and we'd been staying at a farm. A herd came through and Zac and I got split up, stayed that way for months. I turned to someone else and he got with Beth and when we met back up at the prison months later both of us had somehow moved on from each other because we had thought the other one was dead and any form of a spark was gone. I still love him but I know we'll never be like we were and sometimes it makes me sad even if it was for the best."

Swallowing hard Avery looked down again and maybe she shouldn't have asked that but it wasn't like she remembered it. Old her would have. The her that had all these memories of people who were sometimes like strangers to her now. "Daryl thought I was dead though for a good two months."

"He did," Kate said as he locked eyes with her. "But unlike me or even Zac he never fell out of love with you so he may have thought you were dead but he never gave you up, not like Zac and I gave each other up."

Avery again swallowed hard at that and she chewed on her lip because in the end she still wasn't sure where that left her.

"I'm not saying you should have sex with Daryl," Kate continued guessing from Avery's body language that she still had a bit more on her mind. "I'm not even gonna say that Daryl had the condoms because he wants to have sex with you because he is a man and who knows why they have half the shit they do. But I am saying stop shutting the man out. Stop running to another man and actually try to reconnect with the one you have, the one who clearly still loves you."

Nodding her head Avery slowly stood from the stool, picking up the condom box as she did so, "Thanks for the words of wisdom," she muttered before turning and leaving.

Truth be told Kate's advice made her nervous because what if in the end she didn't like the man she had once loved? A man who still loved her. What if her feelings for Dean were stronger than whatever she felt for Daryl? Daryl was still a blank and he could always stay that way. It was a possibility she'd never grow feelings or if they did she'd never feel the same and there was also the possibility she could realize what she felt for Dean was more than what she felt for Daryl but still she wasn't sure how that would go.

How Daryl would take it if things were never the same, not when he still seemed so off and deep down Avery was sure he was off because of her. Because she was here in his life but she also wasn't really there in his life either. She was just the shell of the girl he once knew and maybe loved.

But even with all of that Avery also knew Kate was right. She did need to try because she owed herself that much if her memories returned and she owed Hunter that much too.  
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That night as Avery cleaned up after dinner, she blushed as she felt Daryl's eyes on her and she turned from where she stood at the sink to look at him. "What?" she asked him as she raised an eyebrow. "I can feel you staring at me."

"Just wonderin when you're going to ask to go see him," Daryl muttered as he looked away from Avery's gaze. "I mean you didn't ask to invite him to dinner so I'm just waiting on you to ask to go see him since that's how it always goes when he doesn't have dinner with us."

"You mean Dean?" Avery questioned as she watched Daryl keep his gaze off her but he only nodded his head yes. "Maybe I don't want to see him tonight," she shrugged her shoulders and well he didn't have to know her words were partly a lie. She did want to see Dean but she was taking Kate's advice and trying not to shut Daryl out. "Maybe I just want to spend a night here with Hunter and with you."

Hearing Avery's words Daryl turned his gaze back to her, feeling a bit skeptical about what she was saying mainly because since bringing her back two months ago it had been apparent it wasn't him she wanted or even needed anymore, which hurt because it had at first felt like he had been given a second chance with her when he found out she was alive, even when it was known she didn't remember him. But now that second chance felt more like a dead dream with the realization that the woman he had loved was closer to another man than him now and he was beginning to think she'd never even be his again, not without her memories and there was a slim chance they'd come back.

"Whatever," Daryl finally muttered out as he turned to leave the kitchen. 

"Is that all you do?" Avery questioned as she followed behind Daryl. "Mutter whatever or grunt out words instead of actually having a real conversation."

Stopping in his tracks at her question, Daryl shook his head, "You know I'm not much of a talker," he responded without even really thinking but when he realized what he had said he closed his eyes and sighed loudly.

"No, I don't know," Avery replied after she had heard him sigh. "I don't know anything about you other than the fact that we have a four month old son and everyone says I loved you," she frowned as she looked down at the floor. "Maybe things would have been better if I had just never found you again. Then you wouldn't be disappointed I can't remember and I wouldn't feel awful for not remembering."

Before Daryl had the chance to reply to her though, Hunter who was in a playpen in the other room cried out and Avery looked up to find that Daryl had turned to face her.

"I'll go get him," Avery said as she walked past Daryl in a hurry, figuring that right now Daryl probably didn't want to see her. Not after what she had said to him. 

When she made it to where Hunter was, Avery bent down into the playpen and as she picked him up she made a face. "Oh yeah buddy," she laughed slightly. "Mommy sees why you were crying now," she spoke as she kissed his cheek. "You're a stinky little boy right now," she teased as she rocked him up and down on her hip as she started to head for his nursery to change him.

Once she had made it there, she laid him on the changing table and bent down to get a diaper. With diaper in hand Avery smiled down at the baby boy as she undid the onesie he had on. A onesie with a picture of a deer on it.

"You have the cutest blue eyes I've ever seen Hunter dear," Avery spoke as she began to change him., hearing his whines quite down as she did so. "You get them from your daddy obviously," she said as she refastened the onesie once Hunter was all changed. "I think you also get what little bit of hair you have from him as well," she smile as she put Hunter back on her hip and once again she kissed his cheek. "I'm not sure what you got from me though."

"He got your strength," Daryl voiced from where he stood in the doorway, overhearing the last of what she had said to Hunter. "Surviving his first few days and weeks out on the road. He's lucky."

Avery smiled slightly as she looked up at Daryl, "Lucky that he had the right people caring for him," she said as she walked to the doorway of the nursery. "But yeah I guess he did get his strength from me," she nodded her head as she brushed past Daryl as she left the room. "But you have to be strong too right?" she asked out loud as she heard Daryl following behind her.

"Everyone who has survived this long in the world out there has to be," she added in as she made it to the front door which she opened, stepping out into their front porch and walking to the swing. It was nighttime but it was a nice night and she didn't see the harm in being outside for a few minutes just to relax.

"Sometimes I wish I were stronger," Daryl answered as he followed behind Avery. Slowly sitting down next to her on the swing. "If I was maybe things would be easier now for us..." he sighed as he shook his head. "You were the one who had to chase after me last time and it took me forever to come around to you. I'm not sure if I know what I'm doing right now Avery."

Going silent Avery turned to look at him as she chewed on her lip, "You're trying, that's what you're doing," she told him as she offered him a smile when he turned to look at her. "I'm trying too..tonight. I know I've been shitty to you since I came back and you deserve better but I think I owe it to you, to our son, to myself to try. Try to be better and see what happens," she shrugged as she looked away from him. "I mean I don't remember you like you want but I did remember some things. I used your last name as my first name. It was the only name I knew and for the longest time your face was the only one I saw whenever I'd close my eyes even though I didn't know your name or who you were to me or even if you were still alive."

"What about him though?" Daryl asked still unable to say Dean's name. "He won't get pissed you're trying to see what happens with me?"

"Dean won't get pissed," Avery told him as she shook her head though she was unsure of her own words. "He'll understand. He knows I'm yours anyway."

Daryl wanted to laugh at that but he didn't. Instead he just fell silent for a bit before deciding to talk again. "Do you love him?"

Hearing Daryl's question it was Avery now who went silent before heaving a sigh as she looked down at Hunter who was beginning to drift off in her arms.

"Do you want the truth?" she asked Daryl as she looked at him to see him nod his head quickly. So quick that if she had blinked she would have missed it. "The day we ran into you I was going to tell him we could settle down into a house together. Make it our home and be happy but I never got the nerve and I never really understood why because I felt something for him I still do, but there's something that would never let me open my mouth and tell him I'd give him what he wanted. I still wouldn't even now and I think it's because somewhere in my messed up brain I know it's not him. He's not the one. All that time together and he never made me feel like I was at home just by being in his presence. Not like you do anyway and you're basically just a few fragments of memory to me still but you make me feel like I'm home, you make me feel safe."

It was after she said that, that things once again went quite between her and Daryl and Avery was afraid she had made him mad or even hurt his feelings with her honesty. An honesty she felt he did deserve, especially if she was going to try to make things work with him.

Looking down at Hunter again, Avery saw that he had fully went to sleep and she stood from the swing, "I'm going to go put him to bed and then I'm going to take a bath before going to bed myself," she said as she looked down at Daryl who was still sitting on the swing. "I'd like it if you slept in the room with me tonight, instead of opting to take the couch, please," she spoke hoping the please at the end would get through to him.

When he remained silent even after he had looked at her after her request, she frowned softly before turning to head inside. Now she wasn't even half sure if he'd come inside tonight.  
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Sighing softly as she laid in her bed that night Avery chewed on her lip as she looked at the ceiling and of course she wasn't surprised that Daryl wasn't in here with her. She was sure she probably should have just kept her mouth shut on the porch. She shouldn't have been honest even if honesty was the best policy.

Closing her eyes as she felt tears threatening to come out, she took several deep breaths to calm herself because she didn't want to cry. Didn't understand why she wanted to cry because she still wasn't exactly sure what she felt for the man she couldn't remember as hers but yet here she was wanting to cry at the possibility that she had hurt him or even that she had ruined anything that could still exist between them.

Hearing her bedroom door open, Avery opened her eyes as she turned her head, seeing Daryl walk inside and the moment he shut the door she sat up in bed slightly which caused him to turn and look at her.

"Thought you'd be asleep," Daryl stated as he turned to see Avery sitting up in the bed some after he had came inside the room. "Didn't want to wake you."

"I couldn't sleep," Avery shrugged as she kept her eyes on Daryl, watching as he slipped his vest off before undoing the button down shirt he had on, though he didn't take it fully off. He kept it on and proceeded to undo his jeans, pushing them off before climbing into bed beside her. 

Smiling as he did so, she laid back down against the pillows as she kept her eyes on him. "Thank you," she said as she leaned into him, kissing his cheek softly. "For coming to bed with me," she told him as she kept her forehead leaned against his cheek.

Avery had meant what she said earlier when she had told him he made her feel safe and at home. "Maybe I can actually sleep well for once with you beside me."

Daryl couldn't help but close his eyes at Avery's words and also at the affection she was suddenly showing him. It all seemed to him like she was doing it out of guilt for what she had said on the porch, how she had admitted to wanting another man. It also made him wish that he hadn't came in here but he was stupid and despite what had been said earlier he still loved her and he'd probably do anything she asked of him.

"I...you're welcome," he told her cutting himself off before he could tell her he'd have done it because he loved her. There was no way he was going to tell her he loved her. Not now when she didn't love him. Daryl refused to be that vulnerable with her knowing she could use that against him if she wanted too.

Hearing him say you're welcome, Avery moved away from him slightly as she finally closed her eyes again and before she knew it, she had drifted off.  
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Waking the next morning as she felt the sun coming through her window Avery moved slightly, her eyes opening quickly when she moved into the body behind her and well the suddenness of her eyes opening wasn't because she had forgot Daryl was in the bed with her. It was at the feel of the bulge resting against her backside.

Turning around slowly to face Daryl, Avery watched as her movements seemed to make him steer and the moment his eyes opened and he adjusted to his surroundings she saw him eyeing her warily.

"Morning," Avery smiled as a blush creeped onto her cheeks and she found herself moving a bit closer to him. "I see someone's really wide awake," she spoke with a bit of a flirtatious hint to her voice that even took her by surprise and yet it didn't. She actually liked knowing he was hard and a part of her well it hoped that he had gotten that way because of dreams of her.

Daryl felt his cheeks heat up as well at Avery's words because he knew that she had felt the hard on that he had woken up with. A hard on that had been caused by some pretty hot dreams of her, dreams he blamed on the fact that they were sharing a bed and also because of her affection last night.

"I'm sorry," Daryl spoke not even sure why he was apologizing and before she could even respond he slipped out of the bed, leaving the room to head to the bathroom and take care of the problem he had woken with.

Avery who watched as Daryl left after apologizing for being hard just groaned as she pulled the covers over her head, though she didn't have time to wallow in her frustrations because a cry sounded from the room where her son was and she knew she needed to go and get him.

It was time for his normal morning routine of being changed and fed.

Slipping out of bed herself Avery quickly headed to Hunter's nursery where she picked him up from his crib and took him to the changing table to change his diaper and once it had been changed, she headed into the kitchen with him where she worked on fixing his bottle as he kept whimpering and hiding his head in her neck.

After she had made his bottle she walked to the table with him, watching as Daryl came into the kitchen, fully dressed again and with a blush still on his cheeks.

"You going on a run again today with Zac and Rick?" Avery asked as she looked at him curiously. She knew that all three men had been going out for a few days now looking for things because the community was starting to run low on some supplies and each day they seemed to come back empty handed or not with much.

Daryl nodded his head at Avery's question, "Yeah, Rick and your brother are both stubborn assholes. Someone has to make sure they both come back in one piece though."

Laughing at that comment Avery shook her head, "You better come back in one piece too," she told him a bit sternly and she saw him give her a curious look. "I don't want to lose my husband," she shrugged casually dropping the term Kate had used yesterday.

It was a term that didn't even feel or sound strange coming out of her mouth and maybe when she said it, she had even felt a weird flutter in her stomach. Sort of like butterflies.

Daryl paused at Avery's words, hearing her call him her husband. It brought back memories of the time at the jail when he had declared them married already and it made him a bit sad because he knew she'd never remember that, regardless of what she had just said.

"I'll come back in one piece," Daryl told her as he nodded his head. He knew though that he really couldn't promise her that though, not in this world.

After telling her that Daryl finally found the strength then to turn and walk away from her, knowing he had to go and help pack things up so that he, Zac, and Rick could head out again.

"Don't leave before I get to tell you goodbye," Avery called out as she watched Daryl walking away and as he stepped outside their front door she hoped he heard her. She didn't want him to go outside the walls until she had properly told him goodbye which would be after she finished feeding Hunter.  
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Daryl turned his head as he stood out by the car later that morning and as he watched Avery approaching him, he raised an eyebrow at her expectantly knowing she had told him not to leave before she could tell him goodbye and well luckily for her Zac was running late. Said something about helping Kate baking some cookies and Daryl half thought he was helping Kate make cookies with pot in them but he kept that opinion to himself of course.

"You better come back in one piece," Avery spoke as she came to a stop in front of Daryl. "If not I'm going to make you hurt worse than what you would be hurting already," she laughed as she shook her head at him.

"I said I'll come back in one piece," Daryl muttered as he looked away from her, not sure why she cared so much. She said last night she was trying but then she had basically confessed to wanting another man. It all felt to him that maybe she was trying too hard. Maybe she was trying to convince herself or him but either way it felt off. "Don't see why you care what happens to me anyway woman," he sighed out under his breath. 

Avery frowned at his last words and she reached out to touch his cheek softly, "Cause I care about you," she said honestly and it was true regardless of not having memories or how she had treated him. She cared about him and he made her feel at home and she didn't want to lose him. "I care," she repeated again as he looked at her again and before he could speak she leaned in to peck his lips briefly.

"Just stay safe Dixon," Avery muttered as she pulled away and gave him a smile before she turned to walk away.

Watching Avery walk away after she had pecked his lips, Daryl felt his cheeks heating up, especially when he heard a low whistle from beside him and as he turned to the sound he glared at Zac who had seemed to pop up out of nowhere.

"Seems like things are heating up between you and my sister again," Zac teased as he threw his arm around Daryl's shoulder. "You'll have to give me all the juicy details since my own love life is shit now."

Daryl rolled his eyes as his moved Zac's arm off him, "Ain't nothing heating up between your sister and I," he growled. "Nor is it my fault Beth wised up to the fact that she needs someone more mature than a three year old."

"Your words wound me Dixon," Zac spoke sarcastically as he opened the back door of the car. "About as much as Rick's awful taste in music."  
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That night Avery paced back and forth in her living room. It was beginning to get dark and the men hadn't returned from their run and Avery couldn't help but be nervous. She was nervous that something bad had happened or maybe that Daryl wasn't coming back, that none of them were.

She knew the dangers out there, not just from the walkers but also the humans too and well she was afraid and it probably wouldn't go away until they came back. Until Daryl returned home and walked through the front door of their house and she could physically see that he was okay.

Hearing the front door open at that thought, Avery stopped her pacing as she watched a form walk in and she chewed her lip seeing Dean walk into her house, any tiny bit of hope she had that it was Daryl deflating the moment she saw Dean.

"Not who you expected?" Dean asked as he shut the door behind him as he walked inside the house that Avery lived in with Daryl and her son. "And you should really lock your doors Dixon. Anyone could just walk right in."

"I'm not Dixon," Avery corrected him as she shook her head at his words. "I guess I was hoping you were Daryl though. He's not back from the run yet and they are usually back before it's dark."

Dean made a face at Avery's words and the moment he made it to where she was, he slipped his arms around her waist easily. "You've never called me on calling you Dixon before," he commented knowing he had done it even since knowing who she really was. It was mainly because to him she'd always be Dixon, the woman he had saved and loved.

"It just doesn't feel right anymore," Avery shrugged her shoulders as she moved out of Dean's embrace. "I kissed Daryl this morning and since then...I've...it's like these flashes not as blurry as the others but flashes with him. Flashes of who I was before and I'm not Dixon. I'm Avery or at least I feel a bit like her...more than I did."

Making another face at her words Dean sighed softly, "So no doing like we talked about then?" he questioned as he raised an eyebrow. "No leaving this place together with your baby if things become too much for you," he spoke as he shook his head knowing they had agreed to that their first week here when Dean had been coping with finding out his sister Jacey and her son had died during the walker herd that had came through and when Avery had been adapting to her role as a mom and someone's girlfriend.

Avery shook her head no as she looked at Dean, seeing the disappointment written on his face. "My place is here with my son and Daryl," she said knowing it was true. She could never walk away from Daryl, not when he seemed to tether her to life now by making her feel safe and at home. It also made sense too thanks to the flashes. 

"What if he's dead?" Dean questioned as he reached out for Avery again. "What if they aren't back because he died?" he asked as he let his hands cup Avery's cheek. "Is it wrong I hope he is, because selfishly I want you for myself again?"

Glaring at Dean's words, Avery removed his hands from her cheeks a bit roughly as she shook her head. "Of course it's selfish," she spat out as she kept her glare. "He's my husband and I can't fully remember him but I don't want him dead and even if he was dead I'd never be just yours again," she clarified.

It was true too. With what she knew and especially how she felt after kissing Daryl this morning she'd never be fully Dean's again. A part of her was Daryl's and always would be. Probably always had been even if her memory was murky.

"Get out of my house," Avery told Dean in his silence at her words and she could see from his confused expression that he hadn't been expecting this. "I don't think I can stand the sight of you right now."

Dean swallowed hard before he nodded his head, turning on his feet to leave but when he got to the door he paused as he turned to face her again. "I think you're making a huge mistake Dixon," he said still using the name that she'd always be to him. "Daryl seems like a good for nothing jackass and I'm not going to be surprised when he hurts you hell I bet he used to hurt you all the time. Men like him..they just seem to be that type," he shrugged betting that Daryl was probably the type to rough a woman up and he probably had done that to Avery. It was probably why she was so up his ass again. He had probably started the brainwashing even with her in a fragile state.

"Get out!" Avery muttered through clenched teeth after Dean had spoke and it was her saying that, that got him to finally open the door and leave.

After he was gone Avery shook her head as she sat down on the couch and broke down crying. She was crying because she felt like in the span of minutes she had lost someone who had meant something to her in some way. Had been her anchor when she woke up in a life that had been confusing. But now well he didn't seem much like her anchor when his words had hurt her and made her angry.

Not just his thoughts on Daryl being dead but the ones on him hurting her because she knew they weren't true. It was one of the main things her gut told her. How could a man who made her feel safe and at home hurt her? He hadn't and she knew he never would so of course Dean's accusations hurt and she wasn't so sure anymore what she felt for him. Just like kissing Daryl had changed things so had Dean's words.  
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Avery jumped slightly when she felt hands on her and before she knew it she was blinking as she looked up at Daryl who was hovering over her from where she laid on the couch and she realized sometime between her crying she must have fallen asleep.

"Didn't mean to wake you," Daryl said as he looked down at Avery who was now looking at him confused. "Was going to cover you up before I went to bed."

"Well I'm awake now," Avery told him as she gave him a tiny smile finally and sat up, her hand reaching out to pull him down closer to her. "I was so worried about you," she admitted honestly as she heaved a sigh. "You didn't come home early like you usually do and I was worried. Worried that you were maybe dead," she said voicing thoughts she hadn't spoken out loud until now. Hadn't wanted to say in fear of it actually happening.

Daryl shook his head at Avery's words, his eyes locking with hers after she had pulled him down closer to her. "We just had an eventful day," he told her as his mind went back to everything that had happened. Finding the truck with food and other stuff then running into Jesus who had stolen the truck then the pursuit of him that had ended with truck at the bottom of a lake and Jesus being held in what they used as a jail here with Zac being his guard for the night at least.

"Eventful?" Avery questioned as she raised an eyebrow.

"We found someone. Some prick who calls himself Jesus," Daryl answered as he laughed slightly at that. "His real name is Paul though and your brother is keeping guard over the house we have him locked away in for now," he shrugged not wanting to rehash details. She'd probably find out about it somehow anyway. Events always traveled fast now days it seemed but with hardly anything to do but gossip at the end of the world Daryl guessed he understood. "Saw Carol on my way home. She said she saw Dean leaving earlier and she knows your sister is watching Hunter tonight. Thought I should know you may be cheating on me is what she gave as her reason for telling me."

Blushing at Daryl's words Avery broke eye contact with him, "Jessie is watching Hunter and Dean did come by tonight but I'm not cheating on you," she defended as she shook her head. "Dean's an ass and he showed his true colors tonight," she told him as she finally looked back at him. "In fact I asked Jessie to watch Hunter because I had hoped we could have some alone time tonight..just us and no baby. I found those condoms in your jeans when I was folding clothes yesterday and I was thinking we could use them before they expire in a few days..I mean if you want too that is."

Daryl listened to Avery speak and after she had finished he had to sit down beside her, taking in her words as he did so. To say that, that had been what he was expecting would be a lie. He hadn't expected that at all from her and he was also a bit embarrassed that she had found those damn condoms. They had been something Zac had picked up on a run recently and had given him as a joke and he had really almost forgotten having them as well.

"You want to have sex?" Daryl asked her as he looked over at her. He knew most men probably wouldn't be him right now. Asking if the woman wanted to have sex when she had basically just said as much but he was still wary and he almost wanted to pinch himself and find out when he had fallen asleep and got into this dream. He hadn't expected Avery to be ready for that yet..especially not after last night and well maybe he was also afraid she was doing this because of Dean showing his true colors and not because she actually wanted him.

Avery laughed at his words as she nodded her head, "I want to have sex," she told him before slowly moving into his lap and straddling him. "Aren't you supposed to be a man?" she asked him playfully as she ran a finger down his cheek. "We have no baby at home tonight and a box of condoms that are going to expire soon and I tell you I want to use them because I want to have sex with you," she muttered as she leaned into him, resting her forehead against his. "I want you and I want to show you that. Make up for treating you so badly before when I first came back."

Looking up into her eyes Daryl swallowed hard at her words. Hearing her say that she wanted him, well maybe it helped sit his mind at ease slightly on things. At least for tonight.

"I want you too Avery," Daryl finally admitted hating how vulnerable he sounded but she had been making him vulnerable for so long now. "I love you."

Smiling at what he said Avery closed the gap between them as she kissed him softly on the lips. "I love you too," she whispered into his mouth and she knew her words were true. She did love him and she hoped she could show him that tonight. Show him how much she loved him and how much she wanted him.


End file.
